A clone is a term used to describe two players from different seasons, e.g. having the 1975 Pete Rose and the 1976 Pete Rose on the same team. This team would be said to contain clones.

#15

Players

Q.

If I have more than 1 pitcher set to the same role, how does the SimManager decide who to bring in?

A.

The SimManager looks at the score, the runners on base and analyzes the the rightie/leftie makeup of the opposing lineup before picking one of your relievers. You currently can not indicate a preference.

#16

Players

Q.

My opponent's pitchers have pitched way over their actual IP! What's the deal?

A.

Fatigue is based on actual v. Sim usage. Usage is the key here. Take for example the 1994 Greg Maddux. He pitched 202 innings, but in only 117 games. That usage rate is equivalent to a pitcher who threw 280IP over a 162 game season. If you take it 1 step further and use the historical MLB average of 16 pitches/inning, you get 16 * 280 IP = 4480 pitches. That's what you could expect to get out of Maddux in the regular season. Using him more than that, will cause performance to decrease and you'll see a rise in his ERA.

#24

Players

Q.

How does fatigue work?

A.

Fatigue can affect all players, starting pitchers, bullpen and even position players. Fatigue is based on projected stats vs actual stats. Each player also has a built-in cushion of 10% beyond his actual stat totals. To view why a specific player is incurring fatigue, hover over his fatigue indicator in your Manager's Office.
For your pitching staff, fatigue may affect an individual pitcher in one of 2 ways (NOTE: both are based on pitchcounts, not IP):

Within the current game - As the game wears on, the pitcher will become increasingly fatigued, requiring some pitchers to be replaced or pinch-hit for before others.

Overuse - The fatigue monitor also evaluates the rate at which you use your pitchers from game to game. For example, if you attempt to use a pitcher with 200 actual IP in a 3 man rotation, he most likely will not have enough time to recover fully from start to start. Or if your closer throws 45 pitches the previous game, he most likely will be fatigued and need a game or two to rest. In order to fully rest him, you'd have to send him down to AAA or move to the bullpen and rested (both options are available for full-season teams ONLY). So the moral of the story is: don't overuse your pitchers or their arms might fall off (okay, not really, but they will get tired).

For position players, fatigue is based on league plate appearances. If they are on pace to play significantly more than they did in real life, then they will show signs of tiring. As they tire, their ability to hit, field and run the bases suffers. For example, if the 1985 Max Venable accummulates 110 plate appearances by the All-Star Break, he will be showing serious signs of fatigue because he only saw 146 plate appearances during the entire season in 1985. As players tire, a day off will help them climb back to full stamina. Salaries for both pitchers and position players have been adjusted to compensate for their conditioning (or lack thereof). For example, you may see two pitchers with identical numbers, except one threw 250 innings and the other threw 150 innings. The pitcher with more innings thrown will be more expensive since he won't wear down as quickly.

NOTE: Also note that after your first couple of games many players may show fatigue even if they were everyday players in real life. The reason is that often times at the beginning of the season, players will rack up many plate appearances if your team scores a lot of runs or plays extra inning games. This will quickly balance out as the season progresses.

#26

Players

Q.

Do I have to rest somebody who is tired? What happens when a player gets tired?

A.

No, you don't have to rest anyone. It's your decision, but as in real life, their performance starts to diminish. You, as the manager, will have to decide whether you should play a tired star, or a fresh sub.

#27

Players

Q.

How long do I need to rest a player before they are 100% again?

A.

For all players, the number of games will vary based on how tired they are and how much they played in real life that season.

#28

Players

Q.

When drafting players, how do I know how quickly someone will get tired?

A.

Look at how much they played that season. For example, Cal Ripken will never get tired or need to be rested, whereas someone who only had 100 at bats will get tired much more quickly.

How does fatigue carry over into the post-season?
Fatigue is NOT reset when the playoffs start. Players go into the playoffs with the same fatigue level that they ended the regular season with. So, if you have a big lead going into the last couple of weeks, it would certainly help to rest your players. Also, players do rest on 'off days'. So if you sweep your first round opponent and the other series goes 5 games, your players would pick up 2 games of rest.

#29

Players

Q.

What do the defensive ratings mean?

A.

The fielding and range values are a just a quick reference guide to represent a player's ability. His actual fielding percentage and range factor* can be found in his actual fielding stats on his player profile. Although two players may have the same defensive rating (e.g. 'A+'), one may be slightly better than the other. For example, if the cutoff for an A+ outfielder was a .990 fielding percentage, then you could have an outfielder with a .990 and another with a .999 and both would be labeled A+.

Players who have played at a position but less than 20 real-life games are penalized. This is incorporated in the ratings and the statistical inputs. Players who have not played at a position will incur a greater penalty than this, based on ratings and inputs at the primary position as well as which way he moves on the defensive spectrum (SS - 2B - CF - 3B - LF - RF - 1B). Moving left is a stronger penalty than moving right. Playing players at position which they never played that season is not recommended.

*Range factors are based on WhatIfSports.com's Relative Range Factor values that take actual stats and better account for actual team makeup and balls in play allowed.

#42

Players

Q.

Why is my pitchers's sim performance worse than his real life performance?

A.

In addition to normal random variation, there are some other issues which may play a major role in sim performance:

Salary cap - the higher the cap of the league, the more variation you'll see between real life stats and sim stats.

Ballpark - ballpark can have a huge impact on simstats - not just your home park, but your opponent's parks as well

Opponent lineups - if you have a strong left handed starting rotation but you ended up in a division with great right-handed hitters, this would negatively impact simstats.

In game fatigue - it's possible that your pitcher is tiring early in the game but not being pulled until it's too late. For example, if you have a pitcher that threw 300 IP but had 45 starts, that would roughly equate to 100 pitches per outing (300 x 15 pitches per inning = 4,500 total pitches/45 starts = 100 pitches per outing). If the pitcher has a max pc setting of 120, he's being allowed to pitch deeper into games and may be pitching while fatigued which could lead to big innings.

#47

Players

Q.

Why was my pitcher left in so long?

A.

This usually boils down to whether any pitchers are available (not explicitly resting or resting via the auto-rest feature) and the Minimum Inning Available setting. If sparky runs into a situation where he wants to pull the pitcher but there aren't any non-resting pitchers or any available pitchers able to enter the game (i.e., the current inning less than the Min. Inning Available setting), then he must keep the pitcher in until he exceeds his pitch count or the inning advances.

To avoid this situation, always try and make sure you have pitchers able to enter the game at any time or staggered throughout the game.

#48

Players

Q.

What happens if I play a player out of position?

A.

If a player without any fielding grades listed for a particular position is inserted into that position, his skills at his primary position are translated to the new position. A designated hitter that did not play in the field is treated as a D-/D- first baseman. He is then slapped with a mandatory out of position penalty. From there, he is penalized for each spot he moves to the left on the Bill James' Defensive Spectrum. For example, moving Ozzie Smith from SS to 2B would still yield an above average 2B. Moving Jim Thome to SS, on the other hand, would result in an atrocious SS. Moving Thome to LF would not be as drastic a penalty since SS is a more difficult position.

#664

Players

Q.

Why can't I rename my AAA prospects?

A.

Prospects can only be renamed in theme leagues.

#668

Players

Q.

Why are my players not playing up to what they normally do?

A.

Each league is different in that the 24 parks are different and the composition of pitching is different. On top of that, there's always the roll-of-the-dice factor that comes into play.

The data and game is working properly, so he has just played very poorly to this point. This can be attributed to tougher pitching, tougher ballparks and/or bad luck. If it's simply bad luck, the odds are he will bounce back as the season progresses.

#734

Players

Q.

My AAA pitcher refuses to gain any strength or recover even after sitting out 9-10 games. He is still at 6% and will be at 6% after the next game as well.

A.

Stamina is a relationship between innings pitched and games pitched instead of a general rating showing how much they can pitch in the season. Basically, it shows you how far into a specific game they can go, and does not imply how much they can pitch in the season. Using the stamina rating and the recommended pitch counts, it should give you an idea of how much they can pitch in the season.

#780

Players

Q.

What are the qualifications for awards?

A.

For batting awards, players must average 3.1 plate appearances per team game or more in order to qualify. Pitchers must average one inning pitched per team game. Position players must appear in 50% of their team's innings played to qualify for fielding awards.

Rookie of the Year: Closely mimics the formula used for MVPs for position players and Cy Young for Pitchers. In order to be eligible for the ROY, a player must either be a prospect or a first-time player in a progressive league(theme setting).

In each case, there are weights assigned to the individual components for the award calculation. While real life awards are decided by writers using the core raw stats and their personal opinion of how good/valuable players are (despite numerous objections by other esteemed writers across the land), SLB can use more appropriate statistics and accuracy to determine the best of the best.

If you think you have a player that should be up for an award but he isn't listed, be sure to evaluate all the component pieces and compare them to the players ranked ahead of them. It's hard to take sometime (like when you have a player with 55 HR, 150 RBI and a .340 AVG not in the top then), but there are always reasons why they are ranked where they are. They could be playing 1B while those ahead are SS & CF. They could be playing half their games in a hitter's park while those ahead play in pitcher's parks. Many reasons, all put together, and the best are at the top of the pack.

It's also important to note that only prospects are eligible for the ROY. For multi-season (progressive) leagues, true first year players are also eligible. That is, players from their rookie seasons.

WhatIfSports is a trademark of WhatIfSports.com, Inc. SimLeague, SimMatchup and iSimNow are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts, Inc. Used under license. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.